How Investing in a Single-Platform Product Testing Solution Optimizes Products and Drives Demand 

For companies feeling the pinch of supply chain and inventory challenges, optimizing a strategy for product testing before launch may not be at the top of the solution priority list. But at the same time, many companies are finding that engaging their customers for product-level feedback before the product launch is putting their brand in a stronger position. This helps to weather operational challenges and increase their market share. 

Competing in crowded markets while meeting increasing customer expectations can tempt companies to cut corners. This could cause them to potentially underutilize pre-market product testing. But without engaging your customers in your product creation process, the product you launch can end up causing more long-term problems for your brand.

Overcome Product Development Challenges With a Single-Platform Product Testing Solution

There’s currently no quick fix for the supply chain and inventory issues plaguing brands. But now is an opportune time to pursue comprehensive strategies that increase your brand’s relevance and grow market share. Despite the current climate, your brand can capitalize on product experience tactics and become even more competitive. 

A simple way brands can position their products for success is by investing in a product testing solution and process. This method can generate a product-centric voice of the customer feedback data before product launch.

Consider your current product development and go-to-market processes. Are they siloed processes that depend on disparate technologies? Do they include infrequent communication among different departments? Many brands that evaluate their processes find that the pre-launch customer feedback stage – critical to informing market-leading product design and development – is outdated, loosely defined, or both. 

Product testers providing feedback during apparel product testing

These common product development issues are being addressed through the ongoing adoption of single-platform product testing solutions that are providing brands with timely benefits, including:

  • Ability to act on trends identified through product testing before launch
  • Enhanced product line optimization
  • Streamlined product development processes

3 Ways Investing in Product Testing Before Launch Can Increase Your Company’s Market Share 

1. Ability to act on trends identified through product testing before launch:

Consumer trends move fast. Launching a product that’s off-trend is more than a product failure – it detracts from your brand.  Especially during challenging economic conditions, it’s critical to get your products right the first time. Being fast to market is only a revenue generator if your products are successful. This can only happen if you take the time to conduct product testing before launch.

When your product testing solution also provides a qualified community of product testers who fit into your target market and will use your product the way it’s intended, you can generate actionable feedback that’s predictive of how your product will be received after launch.

Act on trends closer to market and make product adjustments in line with consumer sentiment. The minimal time invested in product testing is proving to pay dividends in product success. And when your on-trend products resonate in the market, it’s a win for brand equity. 

2. Enhanced product line optimization:

Is your good/better/best approach right for this category? Interested in adding a new style? Or maybe you’re considering dropping that low-sell-through aspirational style from your line but want validation that nixing it won’t jeopardize the overall assortment architecture. These are the questions product testing platforms are designed to answer. Test your hypotheses before you go to market using real customer feedback and use the feedback to optimize your product assortment to strengthen your brand.

3. Streamlined product development process:

This benefit is pretty simple: a single-platform solution can support all stages of your company’s product creation process from product concept to launch while providing enterprise-grade visibility into the findings where needed – all within a single source of truth. Access to a vast community of qualified testers integrated into the platform is another invaluable component of product success that’s giving brands a competitive edge – pre-launch feedback on your product from qualified individuals who represent your actual customers but aren’t your actual loyal customers.

Be a Triple Threat in Your Space

These 3 benefits to investing in a single-platform product testing solution share an important common denominator: you can increase market share by infusing your product development process with a valuable voice of the customer feedback data, enabling you to launch products you know will lead in the market. 

Right now, there is a lot of uncertainty and no shortage of challenges for brands across industries. But you can still increase your brand’s competitiveness and put your company in a stronger position for growth through challenging times.